The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c14.57

c14.57

Tittira Jâtaka (I. 431) and also in several other places (I. 436, 505; II. 52; III. 18, 171, 194, 228, 248; V. 193, 227)—"he learnt all sciences in Takkasilâ." In the Jâtakas, however, the Brâhmaṇa youth as well as the Khattiya was considered grown up when he had attained the sixteenth year.¹ This appears clearly in the Sarabhanga Jâtaka, where it is said of the purohita's son that in his sixteenth year he was extraordinarily beautiful and that his father sent him to Takkasilâ on seeing the full growth of his body (Sarîrasampatti, V. 127). So also in the three Jâtakas where the parents give the son the option of either worshipping the "natal fire" (jâtaggi) in the forest or studying.